This list of rules and procedures
below is taken directly from Allyon and Azrin's important book,
The Token Economy: A Motivational System for Therapy and Rehabilitation
(Prentice-Hall, 1968). The Token Economy describes the
application of behavioral principles to the behavior problems
of adult patients diagnosed with mental illnesses in a large
institutional setting. The token reinforcement and contingency
management system was much more effective for establishing functional
independent living skills in the residents of the institution
than the psychiatric methods previously employed.

Despite being developed almost
40 years ago, these rules and procedures may still be applied
with good results in almost any behavior modification setting.
For more information, please refer to the sections indexed by
the page number after each rule.

Dimensions of Behavior Rule: Describe the behavior in specific terms
that require a minimum of interpretation. (p. 36)

Variation of Reinforcement
Rule: Use many variations
of a known reinforcer to discover new ones. (p. 72)

Conditioned Reinforcement
Rule: Provide a distinctive
and tangible stimulus event to bridge any delay between the desired
response and the delivery of the reinforcer. (p. 77)

Compatibility of Reinforcers
Rule: Schedule reinforcing
activities so that they can occur at different times. (p. 85)

Reinforcer Sampling Rule: Before using an event or stimulus as
a reinforcer, require sampling of the reinforcer in the situation
in which it is to be used. (p. 91)

Reinforcer Exposure Rule: At the moment of reinforcer availability,
display all of the stimuli that typically occur during reinforcer
utilization; if possible, the have the individual observe another
individual actively utilizing the reinforcer. (p. 105)

Behavior-Effect Rule: Arrange the situation so that the behavior
produces some enduring change in the physical environment. (p.
127)

Time and Place Rule: Specify the time and place of the response
occurrence and the reinforcer delivery. (p. 133)

Individual Responsibility
Rule: Assign one and
only individual to act as the reinforcing agent for a given occasion.
(p. 136)

Dimension of Reinforcement
Rule: Specify in physical
terms as many dimensions of the reinforcer as possible. (p. 140)

Procedure for Multiple Reinforcing
Agents: Use different
individuals to implement the delivery of reinforcement. (p. 154)

Recipient of Reinforcement
Procedure: Use the report
of the recipient of the reinforcer as an additional check on
the reinforcement interaction. (p. 157)

Response Shaping Rule: In developing a desired response chain,
begin by reinforcing an existing response that that has a component
relation to the target behavior; then reinforce variations of
the component that are in the direction of the target behavior.
(p. 162)

The Prompting-Shaping Rule: In developing a desired response chain,
begin by prompting verbally and reinforcing an existing response
that has a component relation to the target behavior; then prompt
verbally and reinforce variations of the component that are in
the direction of the target behavior. (p. 169)